July 10, 1893 -- Halfway through the greatest
event in the city’s history, tragedy occurs on this day. A day later the lead in the Chicago
Daily Tribune captures the depth of the tragedy as the paper reports, “The
World’s Fair received a baptism of fire and blood yesterday afternoon, the
Cold-Storage Building proving a funeral pyre for twelve firemen, twenty-four
persons receiving serious injuries.” The
cold storage building, the location of the tragedy, was erected by the
directors of the Hercules Iron Works and sat on the east side of Stony Island
Avenue just south of the Sixty-Fourth Street entrance to the fairgrounds. The building, designed to resemble a Moorish
palace, was five stories high and included a skating rink on the top
floor. There were four towers on each
corner with a central tower, encasing the boiler flue, the central tower rising 191 feet above
street level. A promenade encircled the
central tower about 70 feet below its inaccessible top. The flue that ran up this central tower had
been a subject of considerable debate since it veered so dangerously away from
original specifications and had been subject to minor fires that had flared up in June,
causing the cancellation of most of the insurance policies on the
building. At 1:30 p.m. an alarm went out
when a small fire was spotted at the top of the flue stack in the tower’s
crowning cupola, an area that was supposed to have been made of wrought iron
instead of wood and lined with asbestos.
About a dozen firemen climbed to the gallery around the tower, nailing
boards to the structure to get closer to the fire. As they climbed, a puff of white smoke at the
roof level of the warehouse preceded flames that cut off the escape of the fourteen
firefighters trapped on the narrow ledge surrounding the tower. As 50,000 fair-goers watched, the trapped men began
to jump, one by one, leaping 60 feet onto the burning main roof. The paper described the horrific scene,
“Strong men turned their heads away and women fainted by the score. The crowd was so dense that escape was
impossible. Down on his knees in the
center of the plot surrounding the Pennsylvania railroad exhibit went a well-dressed
man, and with hands uplifted he prayed to the Almighty to avert the awful
calamity that seemed imminent. As he
prayed tears streamed from his eyes and his words were lost in the sobs and
groans of those around him.” [Chicago Daily Tribune, July 11, 1893] Twelve brave firefighters lost their lives on
that July day, along with three civilians.
July 10, 1925 – Building Commissioner Frank Doherty gives approval for the proposed 40-story Jewelers’ Building, today’s 35 East Wacker, recommending that Corporation Counsel F. X. Busch issue the necessary building permits as quickly as possible. There is one major hang-up in getting the construction started – Fire Commissioner Joseph Connery wants a delay in construction until considerable modification is made in a scheme that would see 572 cars parking in the lower levels of the structure. Connery believes that nothing will eliminate the hazards attendant to a huge parking garage in a skyscraper. The Corporation Counsel seems ready to take the chance, saying, “Recent surveys indicate that an average of 3,000 automobiles are parked daily in loop streets. Five or six other such buildings with equal facilities would nearly solve the parking problem and certainly relieve street congestion.” [Chicago Daily Tribune, July 11, 1925]
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